


The Flickering Light

by LaEmperatrizMariana



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2018-12-02 06:52:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11504031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaEmperatrizMariana/pseuds/LaEmperatrizMariana
Summary: In need of discipline, a sheltered young priestess is assigned to a mentor who would train her in the ways of warriors, so she wouldn't be "fighting" within convent grounds. As she trains, she learns that her colony is slowly dying and that an imminent arrival of a foreign ship may be their only hope for survival.





	1. The Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This random drabble is set in Caminus. 
> 
> Also, AU since it's just a giant mash-up of different characters and concepts from different continuities all coming together. XD
> 
> In context to the comics, this would take place sometime before the events of Dark Cybertron. But then, does that even matter? This is in its own timeline and everyone acts too OOC for it to be canon-compliant. So if you like things that stick to canon, I do not recommend reading this story.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thunderblast is in trouble and apparently she needs guidance instead of harsh discipline.

A Thunderblast sat in a private study, surrounded by her priestesses; all of them giving her disapproving looks. Physically and mentally exhausted, the young femme waited for the matron to arrive. Moments later, the matron arrived. She was none other than the Mistress of Flame herself. She couldn’t help but feel shocked about seeing Thunderblast, the young femme in need of disciplinary action.

“What is going on?” asked the Mistress of Flame, as she directed her gaze at Thunderblast.

A priestess spoke up and pointed at Thunderblast, “This one was seen fighting on convent grounds and was detained.”

Annoyed, the Mistress of Flame inquired, “Fighting?”

“Yes,” said the other priestesses in unison.

"Fighting _herself_?" asked the Mistress of Flame once more.

"No, the other one took off," said one of them.

The Mistress of Flame glared at the priestesses and said to them, "Nothing can be done, since it's unfair to only punish one and not the other." She shot a quick glance at Thunderblast, who made brief eye-contact with her. The Mistress of Flame turned to the other priestesses and said, "I will handle this now. You are all dismissed."

After the others left and closed the door, the Mistress of Flame knelt down to be at eye-level with Thunderblast. "Were you sparring with a friend, or defending yourself from a bully? If it's the latter, don't be afraid to tell me. I want to help."

Thunderblast knew she couldn't lie to the Mistress of Flame. "Sparring with a friend. We've been doing this for the past few weeks." She paused, trembling in fear. "I was the one who suggested it. Please, I don't want her to get in trouble too. She's one of my two only friends."

Concerned, the Mistress of Flame asked, "Why do you want to spar? You are a Priestess of Primus." She pointed at Thunderblast's chassis, which bore a resemblance to the Holy Matrix. "You have been consecrated to serve our creator faithfully since birth. Not many are told of their calling so blatantly."

“Is Primus not a warrior by nature?” asked Thunderblast, who immediately regretted opening her mouth but felt compelled to reply.

The Mistress of Flame remained silent and her expression, neutral.

"I am aware the the others insist on punishing you, for some reason," said the Mistress of Flame, "However, I know that, that will not resolve this dilemma. You are in need of a mentor who could help nurture your fighting spirit. I had Chromia in mind, but she has her hands full with my youngest daughter, Flareup." The Mistress of Flame chuckled. "Someone else came to mind, but I must contact her first. You may return to your quarters. I ask that you stay put for the rest of the evening."

"Thank you!" said Thunderblast, relieved that she wasn't scolded. She left the room, as the Mistress of Flame pulled out a small datapad with her contacts.

* * *

 

The next morning, Thunderblast heard a knock on her door. She answered it and saw it was Firestar, a fellow priestess who was one of her friends.

“I heard about what happened last night,” said Firestar, as she closed the door. "You were fighting Windblade, weren't you?"

"Yeah," sighed Thunderblast, "I mean, she's Kaonian, right? Her people come from a gladiatorial culture and from what I've seen, she knows how to fight."

"Thunderblast," said Firestar, "I know she's your friend but…she just flew off and left you to fend for yourself. Seriously? Anyway, mom…er…the Mistress of Flame told me to escort you to the palace. She says you're going to go train with someone and that you'll be away from the convent for a few weeks.”

"Can we stop for ice cream?" asked Thunderblast.

"Sorry, we don't have time, right now," replied Firestar, "Mom has some important people waiting to talk to you. Maybe later."

Thunderblast followed Firestar to her ship and they headed to the palace. They arrived in half an hour. There, the Mistress of Flame was accompanied by two femmes. The first was the City Commander and leader of the Torchbearers, Pyra Magna. The other was Elita One, a foreigner who was given refuge in Caminus and proved herself to be an extremely capable warrior.

“Good morning, I am happy that you girls were able to arrive here safely," said the Mistress of Flame. "I sent out two messages, one for Pyra Magna and the other to Elita One, asking if they'd be interested in taking someone under their metaphorical wing. As you can see, both of them accepted."

"Hi!" waved Thunderblast at them.

Elita One smiled warmly, while Pyra Magna tried to do the same but failed. She wasn't used to upbeat attitudes, especially since she had a lot of things on her mind at the moment. Pyra Magna turned to the Mistress of Flame and said, "On second thought, I don't think I can take a mentee. My team has been very busy recently with some pressing matters."

"I understand," replied the Mistress of Flame. She turned to Thunderblast and said, "You will accompany Elita One for the next few weeks and learn how to behave in a disciplined but honorable fashion, as expected from someone with offense capabilities."

Thunderblast left with Elita, who then met up with Firestar.

As soon as they had left, the Mistress of Flame asked, "What's on your mind?"

"Caminus' cloaking device continues to decline," replied Pyra Magna, "we recently picked up transmissions from a large Cybertronian vessel headed this way. From what we've learned about our sistren, it's hard to say whether or not they'd be trustworthy. Rumors say that some go out of their way to cyberform planets and murder the inhabitants in the process. And yes, the Forgefire Parliament is aware of our critical situation."

"Why didn't you inform me of this approaching vessel earlier?" asked the Mistress of Flame.

Pyra Magna froze. She didn't have the heart to tell the Mistress of Flame the true reason she was troubled; a combination of the failing cloaking device, the approaching vessel and the fact the Mistress of Flame had mentioned a dream she had weeks ago, of reuniting with her [presumably deceased] sister _very soon_. (Although the Mistress of Flame insists her sister is still alive, Pyra Magna has her doubts and thinks it's simply a coping mechanism.) After organizing her thoughts, she said, "We've been very busy. I apologize."

"The best we can do now is pray," said the Mistress of Flame. "Primus is merciful and I have faith that these Cybertronians have been guided by Primus to aid us. Besides, there have been rumors that there's a ceasefire between the two opposing factions that have been at war for decades. I suspect this vessel comes in peace. Remember the last time a Cybertronian vessel passed nearby?"

"Yes," said Pyra Magna, crossing her arms, "Elita was in it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caminus, the metrotitan, is a "she" in this AU because everyone living in the colony (including the metrotitan herself) is female; a fact I wished would've been true for the canon source-material. I wanted the colony to be like [Themyscira](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themyscira_\(DC_Comics\)), Wonder Woman’s Amazonian homeland, as in being all-female.


	2. Dining with the Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thunderblast has dinner with Elita.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Dining with the Queen"
> 
> Yeah, I picked this story back up after some recent events in the comics and how most fans seemed dissatisfied with the outcome.

Meanwhile, Elita was helping Thunderblast move in. Fortunately, as a priestess, Thunderblast had little personal belongings. Noticing her new student was upset, Elita asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Why do I do everything wrong?” asked Thunderblast. “If my family finds out about this, they’ll be more ashamed of me.”

“Do you feel like you’re being singled out?” asked Elita.

“Sometimes,” replied Thunderblast, “But why?”

“It's because of superstition,” said Elita, “You’re purple. Purple also happens to be the color of The Fallen and of dark energon. For this reason, the others think you’re prone to wickedness, when color has nothing to do with how you choose to behave. Back on Cybertron, many innocent purple bots were discriminated against their appearance and most of the time they ended up changing their colors to more 'acceptable' ones just to be employable. There was always an emphasis on good loyal workers. A friend of mine I knew from Cybertron was one of these 'good loyal workers'. Obviously more than others since he was a large laborer type. He was one of the most steadfast, altruistic, and loyal people I have ever met, and he happened to be purple and yellow just like you. ”

Thinking about it, it made sense. She was the only purple one in her family and they never seemed to like her as much as her siblings and cousins. (She didn't think it was due to colorism, just that she always felt like the weird awkward one.) It also explained why the other priestesses didn't want to talk to her. Thunderblast felt it was due to discrimination, but instead of her plating color it was against her alt-mode. (A hoverboat was out of place in a convent dedicated to Solus Prime and the Matrix Flame, since they're water-types.) Though she felt hurt from the realization, she was relieved that Elita didn't feel that way about her. Neither did the Mistress of Flame, who was one of the few people Thunderblast felt comfortable to approach to with her problems.

Afterwards, Thunderblast had dinner with Elita. Their dinner was meager, as always. Elita missed the days back on Cybertron where the food was still more plentiful than on Caminus. She refrained from talking about it. The last thing she wanted to do was make Thunderblast feel hungrier. She was fortunate to have been born on Caminus and never experience the abundance of energon on Cybertron. Contrary to popular belief, the Great War on Cybteron (between the Autobot and Decepticon factions) wasn’t caused by lack of food and resources but by a souring political climate and a corrupt government that rationed the resources unfairly.

Thunderblast, curious about Cybertron, began to ask Elita questions about it. Elita felt guilty about answering since everything had changed since she had left, and most information was out of date. Especially, since there were rumors of a ceasefire. Was Lord Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, defeated or was Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, defeated? As a still loyal Autobot, she feared the latter because Optimus wasn’t mention in any of the rumors.

After dinner, they went to their shared bedroom and lied down on their respective beds. Elita spoke, “Promise you won’t tell this to anyone.”

“I promise,” said Thunderblast, not knowing (or even thinking about) the revelation that Elita was about to confess to her.

Taking a deep breath, Elita continued, “My conjunx endura, the one I’ve been separated from for my years, is a Prime. Optimus Prime, to be exact.”

Thunderblast sat up and looked at Elita. Due to the priestesses tending to the Matrix Flame, a holy pyre, all of them were aware of Optimus Prime being an actual Prime. Since Optimus Prime was the leader of the Autobots, that’s why many Camiens blindly allied themselves with the Autobots. It would be a sin to oppose the Matrixbearing Prime. However, the Matrix Flame said that Optimus was no longer the Prime, but another mech by the name of Rodimus Prime, was the new Prime. And like Optimus, he was also an Autobot. As far as Thunderblast knew, Primes usually don’t get replaced unless they die and become one with the Allspark. Concerned about the fact that Elita was unaware of the change, Thunderblast remained silent. This was the reason she was in shock, she imagined what Elita’s reaction would be if she had known about this. She did seem concerned about Optimus not being mentioned.

Elita sighed and wasn’t surprised by her mentee’s reaction. She expected Thunderblast to react like this, though she wasn’t aware of the actual reasons. Unlike in Cybertron, Caminus and the Camiens worshipped Primes as gods. And for Elita, a foreigner, to claim she was married to a literal god was practically blasphemy without proof. The punishment for blasphemy was exile, though it seemed too resource-intensive to be reasonable. (Elita thought it was a codeword for “death penalty”, since those exiled never came back and there was no way to contact them anymore. But these cases were so rare that they only happened twice in Caminus’ brief history.)

She also didn’t want to talk about it because Primal Consorts were venerated. The last thing Elita wanted was to be smothered in a similar fashion that The Mistress of Flame smothered her beloved city-speakers. (Not letting them do anything she deemed “dangerous” and insisting they’d have a bodyguard or companion with them always. To be fair, the Mistress of Flame did this for the priestesses too and anyone else she considered a friend or child. Though her reasons were understandable.)

Elita sat up and opened her chassis to Thunderblast. The way her spark pulsed was indicative of being part of a strong loving marriage, but the way the circuitry around the spark glowed was similar in shape to the Matrix. This indicated that she had close physical contact with the Matrix itself, but as the conjunx of a Prime, the contact was by proxy. Thunderblast didn’t doubt Elita’s claim but this was all the proof she needed to be reassured it was, indeed, the truth. Lying back down, Elita said to Thunderblast, "I know it's really early but I want us to train before dawn because it's a good way to start the day. Also, because no one else will be present at the training grounds and the last thing I want is for there to be gossip and rumors based on misconception."

"Alright," said Thunderblast, who tried to get comfortable. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," replied Elita, who tried to fall asleep but couldn't. She missed Optimus and her sparklings too much.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you have enjoyed this "reimagining" of Camien femmes because this is more or less what I wanted out of it from the comics, which failed to deliver.


End file.
